If you’ve been paying close attention, you may remember me as the reviewer of whom much fun was made when I was taken aback by Pop Rocks in my fancy Chuao chocolates. The illustration on the wrapper of the Puchitto custard pudding flavor Hi-chew might seem to promise similar hijinks.
There is a little brown bean-shape, on which I believe is written ‘pudding flavor,’ and it has little shaky-cartoon-lines on either side, suggesting that it’s vibrating with bean-shaped excitement. And – even more reminiscent of the Pop Rocks experience – the drawing of the candy itself, a cream-colored square with little brown spots in it, shows a couple of the spots MUCH larger, and apparently actually EXPLODING, or at least, popping open with a couple of drops squirting out of the resulting hole.
Unfortunately for those of you who are quivering with anticipation of making fun of my sheltered existence, the exploding effect was nothing like Pop Rocks. There’s definitely something going on though – a little snapping effect that’s fairly impressive given how tiny the round globules are. They don’t contribute a lot of flavor as far as I can tell, but they’re amusing.
The texture of the non-exploding part of the Hi-Chew is usually compared to a Starburst, although it’s chewier and I think I’d call it smoother. The combination of the long-chewing and popping bits means this is a candy you’d get a lot of mileage out of when stuck in a boring lecture, or I can see myself rolling the little globs around on my tongue and popping them during the mushy parts of a bad movie.
As for the taste, I should confess that unlike most weird Japanese candy flavors, I am unable to compare this to the thing it’s supposed to be imitating. It’s the flavor of a common custardy dessert with a dark layer of caramel on top, which I have seen many times, but for some reason never been tempted to buy or order. It’s basically like a flan, but if there is a special Japanese touch to this, I am embarrassed to say that I don’t know what it is.
Yet, the flavor does taste oddly familiar, although I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s driving me crazy. This might be what a vanilla Turkish Taffy used to taste like, or is it the texture that reminds me of that? We’ll never know for sure, since they don’t make it anymore. Or perhaps there’s something vaguely tiramisu-like about it?
I can’t figure it out. I’ll probably wake up in the middle of the night a month from now knowing exactly what it is and jump up and put it in the comments. Till then, come on. It’s a chewy custardy flavored candy with little popping things in it, how can you go wrong?
Buy Puchitto Hi-chew Online:
- at J-list
I don’t know what it is about Japan and custard-flavoured things, but my favourite is pudding-filled marshmallows – think Boston Cream donuts only with marshmallow instead of donut.
April 14th, 2009 at 9:43 amI thought they tasted kinda banana chocolatey, or maybe I just got banana chocolate ones with similar packaging? I can’t remember, but I love me some hichews.
Also I know what Laurie is saying and those custard center marshmellows are the BEST. Luckily I live in Chinatown and can get them at like 4 different stores :)
April 14th, 2009 at 2:31 pmI was surprised and delighted by the concept of the flavor-filled marshmallow when I discovered it in Hong Kong. The green apple filling didn’t do it for me, but the chocolate filled marshmallow was a hands-down winner. Try smashing that baby between two graham crackers for a lil’ Asian s’more action.
April 14th, 2009 at 2:48 pm[...] chance to try the intriguing Japanese candy Hi-chew, I figured, why not go for the most exotic? So custard pudding flavor and Strawberry Cheesecake seemed like the obvious candidates. I mean, when have you looked at a [...]
May 7th, 2009 at 8:56 pmI totally loved these. I’ve bought eight packs so far, and I’ll prob. buy a couple more packs. They don’t taste like the Japanese puddings I’ve had too much, but they’re still reallly good.
May 23rd, 2009 at 1:15 am